Sydney Hackenberg | staff writer

Every single weekend, Robyn Woge, a sophomore business major, makes the hour drive home to Mercer County to work her part-time job. With an average of $4.69 per gallon in Mercer, Woge said the cost of her commute is increasing. Along with gas prices, Woge is concerned about paying for groceries, making her car insurance payments and dealing with the increasing prices of education.

“I love to go to concerts, but I don’t go because I don’t have the money to. I just try to prioritize gas and paying for school,” Woge said.

Cost of living is one of the driving issues that is helping Woge determine who to vote for in the midterm election. Before sending her mail-in ballot in, Woge researched each candidate and voted based on how they matched her views.

Woge said she put in extensive research because she felt these elections were so important.

“It’s our future, if we aren’t educated now, it could screw up everything in our future,” she said.

Anya Gupta, a junior philosophy major, is concerned with homelessness as an Allegheny County native.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Development, homelessness in the country has increased 27% from 2013 to 2025. As of Oct. 27, there are 13 homeless encampments in the Downtown area of Pittsburgh, according to Allegheny County’s encampment dashboard.

In Pittsburgh specifically, 80% of homeless individuals suffer from situational homelessness which describes specific events, like the loss of a job, according to the Pittsburgh Foundation.

“Living downtown, we have a pretty big homeless population. I also have friends who have experienced homelessness. Having someone who is willing to not just go to the state but federal level to help my city is really important to me,” said Gupta.

As a child of immigrant parents, Gupta also said that she is looking for legislators to limit what she believed was a “militarized approach” used by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

“The person I’m voting for is really big on centering Pittsburgh and making sure my neighbors are protected from organizations like ICE and that the homeless people in my community have somewhere safe to stay,” she said.

Like Woge, Gupta also does research on candidates before placing her vote.

“I go to their website, but from there I go to what they have done in the past, who they’ve connected with, who they are funded by,” Gupta said.

Hannah Todd, sophomore health science major, is mainly concerned with women’s health issues.

“I want to be a PA in women’s health, and allowing women to feel comfortable with their bodies and everything is a part of my job and what I’m gonna do in the future,” Todd said.

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, women’s rights have been important to many voters in the United States. 1-in-8 voters said that abortion was the most important issue for their vote in the 2024 election, according to KFF, a policy research organization.

On October 19th, 2026, President Trump enacted Executive Order 14437 which is meant to help advance women’s health and increase quality medical research in that field. The order also created a women’s health division at the National Institute of Health.

Todd is looking for candidates that will be best for women and Pennsylvania as whole.

“I want someone who is open to people’s opinions and being open to hearing what people need to say or do with their bodies,” Todd said.

Not all Duquesne students are voting in this midterm election. Daniel Tarabrella, senior marketing major, is not voting in the midterm to avoid conflict between the two parties.

Tarabrella sees himself voting in the future and wants a candidate who is passionate and willing to make sacrifices.

“It’s the mental aspect of not getting involved with the conflict,” Tarabrella said. “I keep my mind free, and let other people deal with the conflict.”

Ashley O’Reilly and Landon Orloscki, first-year law students, are also not voting in this midterm election.

Orloscki said that school became too time consuming and he is not aware of the current political climate. Orloscki does know that he wants a candidate who has real life experiences.

“We get lost in the people that are elected that might not closely represent us or relate to us,” Orloscki said. “As someone who’s been born and raised in Pittsburgh, there’s a lot of different neighborhoods close by and a lot of different communities that people want to represent that don’t get represented.”

O’Reilly said this midterm election is the first time she has not voted. With the adjustment of moving from Florida to Pennsylvania, she said she did not get around to requesting a mail-in ballot.

Even though she is not voting, O’Reilly is still concerned about environmental issues and what candidates are going to do for the environment.

“Florida is an environmentally diverse state. I think especially with data centers, I want to protect our environment because it is already being threatened,” she said.

Currently in Pennsylvania, there are 13 operating data centers, eight under construction, and 41 being planned, according to Cleanview, a market intelligence company that tracks U.S. power infrastructure and data center development.

Data centers across the eastern United States would cause carbon dioxide emissions to increase by 1.014 billion tons by 2040, according to Synapse Energy. On top of that, residential bills are projected to increase by 10% in the same timeframe.

While neither of them are voting in the midterm election, both O’Reilly and Orloscki pointed out the polarizing culture between Democrats and Republicans.

“Having to only pick one option definitely contributes to the amount of people that want to get involved and people are afraid of the backlash of what they believe. I think that really sucks,” said Orloscki.

Sydney Hackenberg can be reached at hackenbergs@duq.edu